dr kelly jakubowski music psychologist october 2017 · 2017-10-09 · musical tempo musical tempo =...
TRANSCRIPT
Dr Kelly Jakubowski
Music Psychologist
October 2017
Overview
• Musical rhythm: Introduction
• Rhythm and movement
• Rhythm and language
• Rhythm and social engagement
Introduction
Engaging with music can teach timing skills
that are needed for cognitive, motor, and
language development
Moving together through music also shows
prosocial benefits in both children and adults
Musical Beat
Most Western music has a regular beat or pulse
Music varies greatly in terms of how easy it is to find the beat
Engaging with music over a range of difficulty levels in terms of beat-finding can help develop the ability to flexibly parse sound sequences into meaningful units (necessary for language development)
Musical Tempo
Musical tempo = speed of the beat
-Average pop song = 120 beats per minute (bpm)
-Adult preferred tempo = 100-120 bpm, children’s (under age 10) preferred tempo = approx. 150-180 bpm
Actively engaging with music from different tempos and music that changes tempo can develop temporal flexibility and prediction abilities, which are also needed for motor and language development
Types of musical rhythm games
• Coordination/synchronisation
• Turn taking/imitation or call & response
• Beat finding
• Adaptive timing
• Self-paced timing
Rhythm and Movement
The auditory and motor systems in the brain
are closely linked (Zatorre et al., 2007)
Motor areas of the brain are activated even
when perceiving rhythms (Grahn & Brett, 2007)
Music and movement development
A study of 4-6 year-olds showed improvements in
jumping and balance in children in a 2-month
music & movement programme compared to a
physical education programme (Zachopoulou et al.,
2004)
Instrumental training may improve fine motor skills (Costa-Giomi, 2005)
Musical movement interventions
Engaging with music can aid people with motor difficulties
Music can serve as a pacing signal to cue movement due to its regular and predictable timing structure
Music is also an emotionally motivating stimulus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbDKHGg9upQ&t=39s
Rhythm and Language
Rhythm and language
Both music & language make use of pitch,
timbre, and timing information
Require similar memory and attention skills
Musical notation uses many properties of
written language. Music reading skills can
facilitate word reading development due to
its regular temporal structure.
Rhythm and language
♩ ♫ ♩ ♫
Rhythm and language
Music and language share several processing resources within the brain
Koelsch, 2005
Brown et al., 2006
“Akin to physical exercise and its impact on
body fitness, music is a resource that tones
the brain for auditory fitness” –Kraus &
Chandrasekaran (2010)
Musical rhythm & Dyslexia
Overy (2003), Dyslexia and Music:
“Rapid temporal processing” hypothesis
- Music may enhance the ability to parse and process
words
Singing and musical rhymes are a natural way of slowing
down the speech signal and adding predictability to language
15 weeks of classroom music lessons (rhythm & singing
games, 3*20 minute sessions) ages 7-11
Musical rhythm & Dyslexia
Children with dyslexia were impaired on tests of musical
rhythm but not musical pitch abilities
Phonological & spelling skills significantly improved, but not
single word reading
Tallal & Gaab, 2006
Music and dyslexia: RCT
First randomised control trial on the effects of
music training for children with dyslexia
(Flaugnacco et al., 2015)
Children ages 8-11, 7 months of musical rhythm-
focused intervention (control group- painting class)
Only the music group showed improvement in
phonological segmentation and reading accuracy
Rhythm and language
Musical rhythm interventions have been shown to have similar effects to computerised phonological training software (GraphoGame Rime) (Bhide et al., 2013)
Children with specific language impairment and some children with autism also show deficits in both language processing and musical timing skills
Rhythm and Social Engagement
Music and prosociality
Music increases prosocial attitudes in 4-
year-old children (Kirschner & Tomasello, 2010)
One year of musical group interaction can
increase empathic behaviour (ages 8-11) (Rabinowitch et al., 2013)
Rhythm and social effects
Moving in synchrony with another person
increases affiliation ratings in adults (Hove &
Risen, 2009)
Such prosocial effects extend to as young as
14 months of age (Cirelli et al., 2014)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaqWehfDm7c&t=5s
Why Music?
Cognitively and emotionally engaging
No adverse side effects
Lifelong engagement opportunities
